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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



01 1 899 244 1 



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LETTER 



OF 



GEN. a/ j/ HAMILTON, 



OF TEXAS, 



/ 



TO 



THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



LETTER OF 

GEN. A. J. HAMILTON 

I' 
OF TEXAS, 

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 




New York, July 2StIi, 186^!. 

My dear Sir, — The deep interest felt by me, as a Southern 
Union man, in the result of measures adopted by j-on for the 
maintenance of the National authority in all the States, by the 
complete and permanent suppression of the rebellion against the 
Union and the Constitution, will, I trust, excuse tlie freedom of 
this letter and my request for your patient consideration of 
what I write. 

I am sure that your desire to have the great issues involved 
in the present struggle properly and forever stettled is not less 
ardent and constant than my own. Our common wish has 
common roots in our common aspirations for the honor, pros- 
perit}', and unity of the Republic ; that wbicb you cherish 
derives peculiar strengtli from the great responsibilities of the 
chief magistracy, and that which animates every pulsation of 
my heart derives a strength not less peculiar from the fact tliat 
the rebellion which imperils our country, desolates mj^ once 
happy home — deprives of their liberties and puts in jeopardy 
of their lives my family, my kindred, my friends, and my 
neighbors. 



But it will avail little to procure a temporary adjustment ; 
and I am prompted to address you now because I observe in 
some quarters indications of a disposition to accept, if not to 
invite, a peace whicli would inevitably lead to new convulsions 
more disastrous than the present. 

By some persons of considerable political prominence, and 
b}^ some leading presses, a systematic effort appears to be put 
forth to reconcile the public mind to the idea that the future 
policy of the Government may be formed on the basis of a 
compromise with the cause of the existing rebellion, which will 
admit of the re-establishment of slavery in the States where it 
has .been abolished by your proclamation of January last. 

To pave the way, apparently, for such a compromise, north- 
ern sympathisers with rebellion and some too who cannot 
justly be so designated, constantly endeavor to impress on the 
public mind the notion that our National and State Constitu- 
tions were made for the white race alone ; and that therefore 
other races can have no rights under them. 

No one denies, I believe, that the people of the white race 
were much more considered in framing our Constitutions than 
the people of the black race ; but the impression sought to be 
made is that the blacks are excluded, by their terms, and by 
inference, from being regarded as a part of the people for whom 
they were made. 

The proposition so understood I propose brieil}' to consider ; 
and then to add a few words on the policy to which, it scorns 
to me, it is intended to lead — namelj', peace through a full and 
complete amnesty and the abrogation of your Proclamation of 
Emancipation. 

The Constitutions from which the black population is supposed 
to be excluded can be only the Federal and State Constitutions. 

First, then, is it true of the Constitution of the United States, 
that it excludes the black race? I have sought in vain for a 



section or provision in that instrument which, in terms, sustains 
the proposition, or which can, by any possible construction, give 
color to it. I find, in fact, in the Constitution, the converse of 
the proposition. The third clause of the second section of the 
first article of the Constitution, is as follows: "Representatives 
" and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several 
" States which may be included within this Union according to 
" their respective numbers, which shall be determined by 
" adding to the whole number of free ijersons^ including those 
" hound to service for a term of years and excluding Indians 
" not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons." The great con- 
stituent body which forms the basis of the political department 
of the Government, is here defined. Of wliat classes of persons 
is tliis ])ody composed ? 1st. " Free 2)ersons^'^ without reference 
to color or nationality (for no such qualification is expressed, or 
can be implied), and including in this class of 'free ijcrsons'' 
" tliose bound to service for a term of years" and "excluding" 
from the class of ''free persons " " Indians not taxed f then 
added to the body of ''free persons, including," &c., " three-fifths 
of all other j^rsons," meaning by this description of " all other 
persons," the slaves of the South. Who then were the " free 
persons, including those bound to service for a term of years?" 
They are not slaves of whom only three-fifths can be counted— 
nor are they Indians not taxed. Is it true that they who are 
white alone belong to this class 1 Whence comes the idea, and 
what are the proofs Who were the persons who, for the most 
part, were held to service for a term of years, at the period of 
the adoption of the Constitution ? I believe it is a part of the 
history of the country, that in some of the States, at that very 
time, Africans or their descendants were held to labor for a 
term of years. If so, they were included in the class of " free 
persons," in the very terms of the provision referred to, and 
were intended to be included. So too the black man who was 



neither held to labor for a term of years n*or for life, hut who 
was a "free person," was included in the language and the 
spirit of the Constitutioi], To tin's obvious construction the 
Southern States have committed themselves, by counting the 
free blacks among tlieir '•'-free ])cr8ons^ in determining their 
representation. 

If those who maintain the tlieory of exclusion will point to 
some clause or provision in the Constitution which sustains it, 
the country will be better prepared for its consideration. 

Even the slaves are not thought unworthy of recognition, and 
are, to the extent of three-fifths of their number, made a part of 
the aggregate constituency of the political department of the 
Government. 

But because this and other provisions of the Constitution were 
made in reference to their condition of slavery, is it to be said 
that \vhen they shall have ceased to be slaves they are, by some 
silent and unseen provision of the Constitution, to be excluded 
from all its provisions ? If their condition be changed from 
slavery to freedom, the effect of such change upon their status 
under the clause of the Constitution quoted, is to incorporate 
them with that class from which there is no deduction in fixing 
the basis of representation. In what manner, then and by what 
provision of the Constitution of the United States are negroes, 
when free, excluded from recognition % 

If we search the State Constitutions, there will be found in 
many, if not most of those of the free States, express recognition 
of the' black man. 

In that of the State of New York they are, under the descrip- 
tion of " men of color," allowed to vote when they shall have 
been, for three years, citizens of the State, and for one year pre- 
ceding the election at which they propose to vote, have been 
seized and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two 
hundred and fifty dollars, above all debts and encumbrances 



thereouj and upou which thej have paid a tax. I might refer 
to the Constitution of Massachusetts, and of man}' of the other 
States, for simihir provisions, but it is unnecessary. In the face 
of such clear affirmative constitutional recognition, a declara- 
tion to the contrary may, perhaps, challenge admiration for its 
boldness. 

If we are now to learn that the black race are ignored and 
excluded from citizenship by the Constitutions of States, by 
which they are required to perform all tlie ordinary duties per- 
taining to the citizen, and allowed the highest rights of freemen, 
including the rioht of sufiVasie — if the Constitution of New York 
excludes them, how, under its provisions, can thej" vote ? And 
why and how is it that to-day, they are being drawn, as con- 
scripts, under tlie late act of Congress ? 

j^atlve-horii men— free men — wielding a portion of tlie poli- 
tical power of Government, Federal as well as State, and with 
arms in their hands to defend the flag of the former — are not, 
whether wiiite or black, witliout tlie pale of constitutional re- 
cognition. 

The resort for proof of the correctness of the proposition under 
consideration will be, most probably, to the Constitutions of the 
Slave States. If so, then I have only to say, they are not the only, 
noryet a majority of the Constitutions of this country, and do not 
therefore, prove the truth of the proposition — and, that if the 
extinction of slavery is a result of the rebellion, then it may be 
that even in the South some meaning and force may be at- 
tached to that provision of the Constitution of the United 
States, which declares that " The citizens of each State shall be 
" entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in 
" the several States." 

The proposition that the Government can and ought to force 
the colonization, in distant lands, of the negroes, when free, is 
as reprehensible in principle, and as unsupported by constitu- 



tional authority, as is the one just disposed of. The power to 
do this is claimed for the Government — (for it would be un- 
charitable to suppose that its asserters would insist upon the 
Government taking so important a step without full authority) — 
to compel the black race to accept expatriation from the United 
States as a condition of freedom. If this power exists in the 
Government, I insist that the country shall be informed where 
it has been so long hidden awa}', and where it is now lodged. 
What provision of the Constitution confers it, either expressly, 
or as an incident of an express power? Every earnest thinker 
will desire to know, uot only the source of the power, but the 
department of the Government to which it has been confided. 
Touching these important inquiries those who favor the 
policy of deportation are entirely silent. Much is said about 
the physical and mental inferiority of the black race, and 
we are left no alternative but to infer that the power is claimed 
for Government : 1st, because they (the blacks) are excluded 
from recognition by tlie Constitutions of the country; 2d, 
because they are physically and mentally inferior to the white 
race ; and, 3d, (for such is a part of the argument), because if 
the two races are permitted to remain together, after the eman- 
cipation of the blacks, amalgamation will soon produce a piebald 
race, to the great detriment of society and government. 

1 say again that the favorers of this policy could never have 
urged it upon the country, unless they believed there was power 
in the Government to adopt and enforce it. Then, it must be, 
by application of the facts assumed in argument not to any 
particular provision, but to the whole body of the Constitution, 
that they distil the subtle power. The first of these assumed 
facts I have done with. The second I shall not dispute. I shall 
content myself with questioning the power of Government to dis- 
criminate against one class, or description, or nationality, of those 



within its jurisdiction, because of physical or mental inferiority 
to some other class, or description, or nationality. 

This would cease to be a free government the moment the 
power should be permitted to it to determine, that because of 
difference of race— of color— of physical inferiority, or mental 
development, the right of the citizen could be determined. 

If unhappily such power shall ever be exercised, it might, and 
probably would, upon a principle of impartiality, be applied to 
all alike. The principle could no doubt find its advocates, 
while there is just as little reason to doubt that some of them 
would fall the first victims to its impartial enforcement. 

If on account of color— race — or physical or mental infe- 
riority one class of people can be forcibly ejected from the 
territory of the Government, as a measure of policy, or on the 
plea of necessity— (the tyrant's plea tiie wide world over)— 
where will bounds be fixed to limit its exercise as often and 
upon whatever class of citizens the majority in power may, 
from time to time, desire? 

Neither the foreign born or native citizens could rest ensy 
under such a precedent. 

As to precisely what would result in the way of amalgama- 
tion, from the two races living together in freedom, I cannot 
say. I am not sufficiently versed in physiology to determine wliat 
increased physical affinities of the two races would be devel- 
oped by the blades becoming free. I feel morally certain that 
\\\Q facilities for amalgamation would not thereby be increased. 
The final argument in favour of the power claimed for the 
Government may bo yet held in reserve. If so, perhaps it will 
be found, when pushed forward, to be something like this— 
" Africans and their descendants are not and cannot be citizens 
under the Constitution of the United States, and have no rights 
which white men are bound to respect." 
1 shall not review the Dred Scott decision. The legal and 



logical correctness of the opinion of the Court was, at the time 
it was pronounced, met by two learned Justices, not surpassed, 
if equalled, in the just estimation of the bar or of the country, 
by any other members of the Court, in dissenting opinions which 
have not been, and will never be, successfully answered ; and 
the philosophic historian of our country has already truly traced 
its inhuman spirit and disastrous reasoning to the attempt of 
Southern slave owners to overtlirow free government for the 
majority of the white race, the more firmly to rivet the chains 
upon the black race, which has culminated in this gigantic re- 
bellion. Two and a half years of revolution, v>hile they have been 
full of sorrows, have not been nnfruitful of honest inquiry lead- 
I'ng to the discovery and acknowledgment of trutii. The great 
Teacher has from day to day impressed new ideas npon the public 
mind and suggested moans adequate to the necessities of the 
hour. The despised negro, whose perpetual bondage was the 
leading object of the effort to overthrow free government, was 
at last considered by the Government as a possible means of 
aiding in its preservation. As freemen, they would no longer 
constitute the chief laboring and producing population of the 
rebellions States, but l)ccome soldiers of the Government, stimu- 
lated by its solemn act, which proclaimed their freedom before 
all the world and in the sight of Heaven. The result of that 
Proclamation is that they are to-day, many of them, in the ranks 
of our armies, and have already, on historic battle-fields, vindi- 
cated their right to freedom by their heroic defence of the flag of 
the free. They are native born — they live and have ever lived 
in the United States. They are free — they are fighting and dying 
for free government— for thu Government. Why are they not 
its citizens 1 They are citizens in fiid^ in reason^ and by 
every right that confers citizenship. And so they will hence- 
forth be considered — the law proceeding from the right — and he 
who, ten years hence, shall dispute the fact will be pitied rather 
than blamed. 



What shall be said of the final proposition—" full pardon to 
the rebels, and the abrogation of jonr Proclamation of Emanci- 
pation?" There is nothing of opposition to free government, or 
of wrong to humanity and civilization, that is not embraced in 
this proposition. It justifies the rebellion in its acts and pur- 
poses—it asks, in effect, that the Government shall become the 
accuser of those who have labored most zealously to sustain 
and preserve it. It asks the Government to do more — to 
descend to a depth of infamy beyond that ever reached by any 
other— to admit, in the face of Christendom, that the Procla- 
mation of Freedom to the Slaves was a deliberate cheat, meant 
only to dupe, for the time being, the anti-slavery sentiment of 
tlie world ; and especially to deceive the negro, to the end 
that he might be induced to engage in the contest, the sooner 
to force the rebel master to receive him back and to acknowl- 
edge that he holds him under the Constitution of the United 
States. 

In this connection it is well to remember that this anti- 
slavery sentiment is the fixed condition of the public mind of 
the civilized world. And to this sentiment, more than to all 
other causes, do we owe the fact that non-intervention by 
foreign governments in the great struggle now pending here, 
has so far been maintained. 

At the period M^hen the governing classes of some of the 
governments of the Old World, sympathizing with the aristo- 
cratic principle of slavery, and deeply interested in the preser- 
vation of the privileges of class, were just ready to proclaim 
intervention in American affairs, the Proclamation of Freedom 
to the slaves, issued by you as President of the United States and 
in solemn form, and the concurrent assertion of the rebels in the 
South, of their determination to maintain slavery as the corner 
stone of their new government, so awakened that deep senti- 
ment of hostility to slavery in the masses of the people of those 
2 



10 



governments, and so attracted tlieir active sympathies to this 
Government, as to effectually forestall intervention. 

And to this sentiment thus aroused and stimulated by your 
grand Proclamation, and now outspoken in England, do we 
owe it to-day to be thankful that we see the emancipation 
party holding — and holding firmly, under the able guidance of 
John Bright — the balance of power in that Government. 

In France too even Imperial power has not, so far, openly 
opposed the national sympathy on the side of freedom. If we 
are destined to encounter foreign enemies in this struggle, it 
will be most likely when by a vacillating policy in support of 
the Proclamation, or its abandonment, we have forfeited the 
confidence, the respect, and moral aid of the friends of freedom 
throughout the world. With the sympathies of Christendom 
with us, intervention is but a possibility — against us, it is a 
certainty. 

The effect which a disavowal and retraction of the Proclama- 
tion would have upon the public mind of other nations is 
evident. It would at once paralyze the efforts of those who 
have hitherto stayed the action of their governments in pro- 
posed interference in our affairs. 

It would weaken, if not destroy, the liberal party of France 
and England — it would surely convert them from friends to 
enemies of this Government, and thus break down the most 
powerful barrier to intervention and foreign war. Thus self- 
interest and national safety should alone suffice to prevent such 
madness. 

But there is an argument higher than these which appeals 
directly to every Christian heart — an argument used by your- 
self in the terms of the Proclamation. 

" Upon this act — sincerely lelicved (so runs the instrument) to 
he an act of justice warranted hj the Constitution upo7i military 
necessity — 1 invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and 
the gracious favor of Almighty God?'' 



11 



Thus did the chief of a Christian people, before mankind, 
and in the sight of God, proclaim freedom to the slave, and hj 
his official signature to the great act commit himself to its wis- 
dom, its justice, and its constitutionality, and to the efficiency 
of its provisions. 

That act was in pursuance of au act of Congress authorizing 
it. The power in the Congress to declare war carries with 
it, the power to provide the means and prescribe the neces- 
sary measures to make the war effective. It was in the 
exercise of this power that Congress acted. The war-making 
power, which is also the law-making power of the Govern- 
ment, said to the President, the commander-in-chief of its 
armies, Do this thing, and it was done. It is unprofitable to 
attempt to prove to those wlio are unwilling to believe, that the 
act was constitutional. The majority of the people of the 
United States and of the civilized world so believe it and so 
sanction it. 

If your proclamation was not then a mere assumption of 
power, but a valid act, done in the exercise of constitutional 
discretion, what power can abrogate or annul it? The act, if 
constitutionally done, is as irrevocable as is the act of the Pre- 
sident in signing an act passed by the Congress. In either 
case discretion and power cease with the act. When the 
proclamation was issued it became the laio of freedom to the 
slaves therein embraced — a law which I repeat is irrevocable 
by any power in the Government. Laws which are general 
in their character and create no vested right in the citizen, 
may be changed or repealed — but those which create personal 
rights and vest them in the citizen are protected from infraction by 
constitutional guarantees. A legislative grant to land cannot be 
revoked at the pleasure of the power making the grant. 
The enfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of people by 
the Government — the solemn act which raises them from 



12 



slavery to freedom — is surely not less sacred and inviolable. 
There is no power in this Government to make slaves of free- 
men, white or black. While the civilized world has hailed the 
act with joy, it would shudder at an effort to recall it or impair 
its vital force. The policy of such a course would be as fatal 
to the peace and welfare of the country as the act would be 
atrocious in principle. 

Those who propose it surely cannot yet compreliend the 
real design of the rebellion, and the change which it has pro- 
duced in the relations of the different classes in tlie South. A 
restoration of " the Union as it was," to use a cant phrase of 
the day, is not a possible thing. If it means a restoration with 
slavery, tlien it will not be a Union of peace, prosperity, and 
happiness, but a Union of discord, hatred, and violence in the 
South wliich will sink it in barbarism. Can we hope for peace 
between tlie sections now at war, with slavery still existing? 
But if this were possible, how can it be expected that the rebels 
and loyal men of the South can live in peace in the future, 
the cause of the trouble — slavery — still in existence, the rebel 
masters more intolerant, jealous, and brutal than ever before, 
with arrogance increased by the victory which they will have 
achieved over the people and Government of the United States 
and the moral and political opinions of the civilized world ? 
I know well that there are those who are impatient when 
"loyal men South" are mentioned in the consideration of these 
questions. Nevertheless, I insist most respectfully, but earnest- 
ly, that they ai^e worthy of consideration because of their de- 
votion to liberty and their Government, because of their 
sacrifices and sufferings, and because they constitute the only 
future strength of the Government in the South. They are to- 
day the majority of the South, whatever may be said or tliought 
to the contrary. Their vindication is certain, if slow. Time 
will prove that the great body of the citizens of the South will 



13 



gratefully return to the Union of their fathers, while it will 
more fully develope the undying hatred to free government of 
less than 300,000 slaveholders. 

We need not further shut our eyes to the nature and disposi- 
tion of the antagonistic forces now in conflict in this war. 
Men need not wonder at the convulsion resulting from the con- 
spiracy, created solely by the pro-slavery spirit that plotted the 
rebellion. This conspiracy is now known to have embraced 
various objects in its scope. Tlie determination to hold in 
bondage four millions of colored people with their increase, 
and to make such bondage perpetual, was the main object of 
the conspiracy. This determination formed the basis of all 
other measures, whether of intrigue, war, or diplomacy. It 
entered into every plan and calculation of the rebel leaders. 
The attempt to destroy the national unity grew out of the con- 
spiracy against the colored man. and became necessary to ac- 
complish the scheme of his perpetual bondage. There was 
an obstacle in the way. There were seven millions of non- 
slaveholders in the South. How could it be otherwise than 
that this population should, at no distant day, stand upon its 
rights and dictate that policy which should accord with its in- 
terests ? It was the apprehension of this that led to the con- 
spiracy against the political rights of these masses. It was a 
truth fully realized by the leading conspirators that slavery 
could not long exist against a union of the free labor forces 
IS'orth and South, blended by common sympathy; therefore 
the national unity must be destroyed. They said, " Slavery and 
democracy are incompatible," and this involved the necessity 
of a monopoly of political power by the slaveholders in order 
to maintain in perpetuity their political property in slaves. 
These are the motives which led them to attempt the destruction 
of the Government. 

What has the nation now to say to this active intrio-ue to 
postpone the destruction of slavery, which is the antao-onist of 



14: 



free governmont? Can it be possible tliat any man of sense, 
or judgment, desires such postponement? I ask you to con- 
template the fruits of that narrow policy which has disfranchised 
a large portion of the white population South. I ask our 
countrymen to consider that educational neglect and political 
debauchment of the South, which have changed it from an 
element of national strength into an agency for the attempted 
accomplishment of national ruin. Compare the condition of 
the Southern white masses in their industrial interests with that 
of other sections. Let the political economist tell us what it 
is that gives the annual ijer capita ]^roduction of §166.00 to 
every man, woman, and child in Massachusetts, whilst in 
South Carolina productive labor yields 'a. per capita (A %'^)'o.()^ 
only. He will trace this disparity to tlie direct influence of 
slavery. The political philosopher ma}' carry the inquiry 
farther, and show why it is that so much of the population of 
the North has become a questionable element of national 
strength. He will find the reason for it in a lono; continued 
sympathy with slavery. The encouragement of the slave system 
of the South by the North has progressed until it has so far 
contaminated not only Southern but even Northern society, 
as to seriously imperil the security of the nation. 

It might have been supposed that the teachings of events 
wonld have set us riglit ere this. It seems, however, that the 
calamities of the country have had no power to instruct the 
political intriguers. Upon such, the active treason of the 
South, its attempt to destroy the nationality, the plot to over- 
throw free government, the claims of the masses of the South 
for protection, and all consideration of future security, are as 
nothing compared with the preservation of slavery — their only 
principle is slavery conservatism. The time has come for con- 
servatism in the right direction. I think we have had enough 
of slavery conservatism. If we must still be conservatives, let 



15 



ns be conservatives of freedom ; enconragers of humanity ; 
promoters of sucli policy as makes men patriots, and keeps them 
so ; and radical opposers of whatever tends to destroy repub- 
lican government. 

Every man in the country who still clings to the hope of 
a great nationality under the old ensign, desires the unity of 
our people. Upon what basis is this unity to be brought about ? 
Slavery has pronounced democracy to be its opponent. Will 
unity be brought about by upholding slavery ? It has aimed 
at tlie destruction of the national life. Will the national life 
be prolonged and secured by cherishing its antagonist ? 
Slavery has conspired against the political rights of the non- 
slaveholding masses of the South. Is tliis in accordance with 
that just conservatism embraced in that clause of the Constitu- 
tion which guaranties republican government to the people of 
all the States ? It has unscrupulously aimed at the establishment 
of an order of nobility in the South, and endeavors to make its 
escape from under the Constitution which interdicts it. AVill 
the further toleration of an institution which has attempted all 
this produce unity ? Through the intrigues prompted by the 
pro-slavery spirit, the nation has been precipitated into civil 
war. The whole number of slaveliolders has been more than 
equalled by the white men who have fallen in the conflict. 
Wbat kind of a monument does slavery conservatism propose 
to erect to the memory of those thus sacrificed 1 Slavery will 
leave a war debt of gigantic magnitude for free industry to 
pay. In what way will conservatism reconcile the toil of the 
nation to the cause of its manifold calamities ? Not, I appre- 
hend, by pandering to slavery, and making it the basis of future 
intrigue and revolution. 

Ihe nation has had enough of slaver// conservatism. It now 
demands not only a change, but a radical change. The future 
security of the nation depends upon the policy which shall be 



16 



now adopted. Its strength results from civil liberty and free 
government — its only weakness has been tlie institution of 
slavery, which thwarted the development of those ideas. The 
great South, embracing more than eleven millions of human 
beings, all under proper guidance, an effective element of 
national strength, has one enemy only — that is slavery con- 
servatism. The twenty millions of people in the Nortli have 
had one insidious, mercenary, and atrocious enemy — Slavery 
Conservatism ! The nation at large has had one enemy — 
Slavery Conservatism ! The example in our country is only a 
repetition of what has been witnessed in all others. The process 
in freeing nations of the barbari8n:is of slavery has generally 
been slow, owing to the weakness of the anti-slavery forces. 
We have one advantage. Tl)e twenty millions of people de- 
voted to free labor have it now in their power to make short 
work of American slavery. We shall soon know whether con- 
servatism will make chronic the national disease, or whether a 
rapid and radical cure shall be effected. In the convalescence 
of this nation the open traitoi's may not prove to be its worst 
enemies. 

The nation can no longer afford to indulge party tacticians 
in that line of intrigue which has heretofore proved its bane. 
The cause of nationality and free government is not alone in 
danger from domestic foes. The fall of Mexico, through weak- 
ness, created by factions, should warn us. The usurper is 
already triumphing over the ruins of republican govern- 
ment in that unhappy countiy. No one can doubt the con- 
current desires between that usurper and the anti-democratic 
spirit which to-day animates and controls the rebellion. At this 
moment negotiations are pending, if not consummated, between 
theleading rebels in Texas who despair of success by the so-called 
Confederacy, and parties in northern Mexico, for a union of 
Texas with the States of Tamaulipas and Neuvo Leon and Coa- 



17 



huila for the formation of a new government nnder the imperial 
sanction and favor of Louis Kapoleon. This will give the long 
coveted opportunity to this despot to interfere in the affairs of 
this country with sufficient plausibility to relieve the act from 
the overwhelming censure of the French nation. If we are 
not now, we will at no distant day be standing upon the law of 
force and tlie preparation of the nation for warfsire to save us 
from intervention. This is the only security we have. There 
are 800,000 colored men in the South, loyal by both nature and 
circumstance, the enemies of those who would overthrow the 
nationality, and cajmble of being made allies in the com- 
mon cause of freedom, justice, and humanity. This force is not 
to be despised, for it is a force that can be counted on in any 
emergency that may call it into requisition. It has one simple 
platform in the ideal of its future — the desire to be free, and 
fidelity to the power that makes it free. It is this simple plat- 
form that may make the colored man an immense power on the 
side of nationality. It is worth more to the nation to-day, if 
properly treated, than all the slaveholders, coupled with ail those 
who are now mouthing that abused word " conservatism." Con- 
servatism for a long time repulsed the colored man and made 
him the efficient ally of the rebels. Alarm for the cause of 
nationality changed the policy, and commenced making the 
colored man the ally of freedom. 

I know that there are those who, while they desire the freedom 
of the slaves, are greatly troubled to determine what should be 
■ done with them afterwards. And I have also observed that 
most frequently those who know least of the slaves of the South 
are most anxious in mind upon the subject. In three words 
the proper policy can be stated — 

Let them alone. 

There is no rightful power in the Government to force them 
from its territory — besides, it will be found that the late masters 



IS 



ill the South and others will clamor more loudh' against their 
speedy deportation than they now do against their freedom. 

They will need, and must have, their labor (not forced but 
paid) until time and a change of population in the South shall 
furnish an adequate supply of M'hite labor. When this period 
arrives it is most probable, nay, it is certain, that the black 
race will begin to desire a home and a government exclnsivel}' 
their own. And then I shall be glad, if living, to see this Gov- 
ernment extend a strong and generous hand to assist them. If 
we will, to-day, take care of the rebellion and its cause, as 
against domestic and foreign foes, the question of the future of 
the negro will take care of itself. 

By your just Proclamation you gave the highest earthly 
sanction to the wise and noble polic}^ of the enfranchisement 
of the black man, and by his enrollment in your armies for the 
defence of the country, you have confirmed it to the benefit of 
the nation. You will be urged to revoke that act. God for- 
bid that you should listen to such advisors and so rob yourself 
of the gratitude and admiration of mankind. 

The utterance of these sentiments may by some be deemed 
out of place and unseasonable. I can better afford to bear the 
censure of such than to forego my convictions of truth and duty. 

Witli sincere wishes for your health and welfare, 
I am very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

A. J. HAMILTON. 

To The President of the United States. 



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